When the Office of Management and Budget cleared the FOIA Ombudsman to issue its recommendations for improving FOIA operations, it was a win in the battle for open government.  However, the difficult process, in which we and others made a stink and Congress had to become involved, has made clear that the Office of Government Information Services does not yet have the independence that Congress considered so crucial for it to succeed. While its recommendations to Congress and the President were pending, OGIS made public some “suggestions” for agencies to improve their FOIA programs and scattered them around its website, … Continue reading For OGIS, road to recommendations reveals not enough independence